A Chocolate Zucchini Bread that is moist and soft with a tender crumb made with whole wheat flour. This is an easy eggless & vegan zucchini bread made with your regular pantry staple ingredients. The photos of this zucchini bread recipe is a proof enough to show you the fab texture.
About This Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread is a sweet bread or sweet loaf made with baking staples like flour, fat, sugar, eggs and zucchini.
When I started testing an eggless and vegan version of the plain classic zucchini bread, I felt the texture and taste to be meh and boring. Perhaps zucchini bread made with eggs has a different flavor and taste as compared to the eggless versions.
Zucchini is bland so when added to bread it just tastes like a plain sweet bread with no added richness or flavors. Adding a fruit purée like pumpkin purée or apple sauce will give a better taste, but I wanted to share a recipe that can be made by everyone easily.
So I tested and developed further by adding some cocoa powder in the bread. I was in for a surprise after adding cocoa powder.
It added a rich flavorful dimension to the bread and the chocolate flavors complimented the bread so well. The taste, flavor and texture of this Chocolate Zucchini Bread was so good.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: I always make this bread with whole wheat flour. Feel free to use all-purpose flour or pastry flour instead of whole wheat flour.
- Zucchini: You can add both green zucchini as well as yellow zucchini. However, do avoid adding bitter zucchini. So do a taste test before grating zucchini.
- Nuts: Use nuts like pecans, almonds, pistachios, cashews or dry fruits like raisins, dried berries or even chocolate chips.
- Ground spices: You can skip any of the ground spices if you do not have them but do not skip the vanilla extract.
- Pumpkin spice: Use 1 to 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin spice instead of adding ground spices separately in the recipe.
- Raw sugar: Maple syrup, coconut sugar, palm sugar, white sugar or jaggery can be used in place of raw sugar.
How to make Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Preparation
1. Chop some walnuts and measure them. You will need ⅓ cup walnuts. Grease a loaf pan with the dimensions of 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches with oil and set aside.
2. Rinse zucchini and then wipe it dry. Grate 1 medium-sized zucchini using a thick grater. Measure the grated zucchini. You will need 1 cup grated zucchini.
Sifting dry ingredients
3. Take 1.25 cups whole wheat flour and ¼ cup cocoa powder in a sieve.
4. Add ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground allspice or clove powder, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg or grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger , 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda and ⅛ teaspoon salt.
5. Sift and set aside. Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celsius (374 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes.
Mixing wet ingredients
6. In a mixing bowl take the 1 cup grated zucchini and ½ cup + 3 tablespoons raw sugar.
7. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, ¼ cup sunflower oil or any neutral flavored oil and 2 tablespoons almond milk or water or any nut milk (cashew, almond or coconut). I have added almond milk.
8. Mix very well.
Making zucchini bread batter
9. Now add the sifted dry ingredients and the ⅓ cup chopped walnuts.
10. Begin to fold the sweet bread batter using the cut and fold technique with light pressure coming from your hands. Do not fold too vigorously.
11. With a spatula fold to a batter where all the ingredients have mixed evenly and the bread batter has a volume. This is a thick batter. If batter looks very thick or dry then add 2 tablespoons more of the almond milk.
12. Pour batter in a greased or well-oiled loaf pan with a spatula. Tap the pan a couple of times on the counter-top and smoothen the top with a spatula.
13. Bake in the preheated oven at 190 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Place the pan on the lower second rack if you have a 32 or 35 litre OTG. Use both the top and bottom heating elements.
14. Do keep a check when baking, but only open the oven door after ¾ᵗʰ of the bread is baked. Oven temperature vary so it can take less or more time in your oven.
A wooden skewer when inserted in the loaf should come out clean. Keep the loaf pan on a wired rack to cool.
15. When the bread has completely cooled at room temperature, remove it gently from the loaf-pan. See the beautiful fluffy, dark crumb on the loaf. So good, isn’t it?
16. Slice and serve. Wrap the remaining bread and store chocolate zucchini bread in the refrigerator. You can even freeze it.
Expert Tips
- On folding: Always fold batter using the cut and fold method. Do not mix or overdo the folding. This will result in developing gluten in the batter that will make your bread dense in texture.
- Leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are the two ingredients that help in leavening. So do ensure that they are fresh and within their shelf-life.
- Grating Zucchini: Thickly grate the zucchini. Do not finely grate as this can lead to the zucchini releasing more water making the batter runny.
- Consistency of batter: Here the batter is a thick batter like that of a banana bread batter. Keep a note of this. If the batter becomes flowing or thin, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons flour and incorporate it gently into the batter.
- Oven temperatures: Since this is a moist bread it takes more time to bake. Oven temperatures vary and in your oven it may take less or more time to bake.
- Baking in convection ovens: Use the temperature of 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for baking in a convection oven.
- Cocoa powder: Use a good quality cocoa powder. Do not use dutch process cocoa powder.
- Wheat flour: You can use the whole wheat flour that is available in the US or even use the wheat flour that is used for making roti. Depending on the quality of flour and the water content in the zucchini, you may need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour if batter has a medium consistency or add 2 tablespoons almond milk if batter looks very thick.
- Storing: Wrap the bread and store in the refrigerator. You can even store the bread in a container or box in the refrigerator. This chocolate zucchini bread also freezes well. It stays good for 10 to 12 days in the fridge and for a couple of months in the freezer.
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Chocolate Zucchini Bread (Eggless, Vegan, Whole Wheat)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1.25 cups whole wheat flour – 150 grams
- ¼ cup cocoa powder – 15 grams
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice or ground clove
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg or grated nutmeg – about 2 to 3 pinches
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger (ginger powder)
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup walnuts – 40 grams
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup grated zucchini or 1 medium-sized zucchini, 130 to 135 grams
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoons raw sugar – 130 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- ¼ cup sunflower oil or any neutral flavored oil
- 2 tablespoons Almond Milk or water or any nut milk or cashew, almond or lite coconut milk
Instructions
Preparation
- Chop some walnuts and measure them. You will need ⅓ cup walnuts.
- Grease a loaf pan with the dimensions of 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches with oil and set aside.
- Rinse zucchini and then wipe it dry. Grate 1 medium zucchini using a thick grater. Measure the grated zucchini. You will need 1 cup grated zucchini.
- Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celsius (374 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes.
Sifting dry ingredients
- In a sieve, take whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, ground cinnamon powder, ground allspice or clove powder, ground nutmeg powder, ground dry ginger , baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Sift and set aside.
Mixing wet ingredients
- In a mixing bowl take the grated zucchini, raw sugar, vanilla extract or vanilla essence, oil, almond milk or water or any nut milk (cashew, almond or coconut).
- Mix very well.
Making zucchini bread batter
- Now add the sifted dry ingredients and chopped walnuts.
- With a spatula, begin to fold batter using the cut and fold technique with light pressure coming from the hands. Do not fold too vigorously.
- Fold to a batter where all the ingredients have mixed evenly and the batter has volume. This is a thick batter. If batter looks very thick or dry then add 2 tablespoons more almond milk.
- Pour batter in a greased or well-oiled loaf pan. Tap the pan a couple of times on the counter-top and smoothen the top of the batter with a spatula.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius (374 degrees Fahrenheit) for 50 to 60 minutes.
- Do keep a check when baking, but only open the door after ¾ᵗʰ of the bread is baked. A wooden skewer when inserted in the loaf should come out clean. Keep the loaf pan on a wired rack to cool.
- When the bread has completely cooled at room temperature, remove it gently from the loaf-pan.
- Slice and serve chocolate zucchini bread. Wrap the remaining bread and store in the refrigerator. You can even freeze this sweet bread.
Notes
Expert Tips
- Folding batter: Fold batter using the cut and fold method. Do not mix with a wired whisk or overdo the folding. This will result in developing gluten that will give a dense texture in the bread.
- Leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are the two ingredients that are used to leaven. So they have to be fresh and active.
- Grating Zucchini: Make thick grates from the zucchini.
- Consistency of batter: The consistency is of a thick batter like that of a banana bread batter. If batter becomes too flowing, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons flour and incorporate it gently.
- Oven temperatures: Since this is a moist bread it takes more time to bake. Oven temperatures vary and in your oven it may take less or more time to bake.
- Baking in convection ovens: Bake at a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) in a convection oven.
- Cocoa powder: Use a good quality cocoa powder. Do not use dutch process cocoa powder.
- Wheat flour: Both the whole wheat flour that is available in the US or the wheat flour that is used for making roti can be used in the recipe. Depending on the quality of flour and the water content in the zucchini, you may need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour if batter has a medium consistency or add 2 tablespoons almond milk if batter looks very thick.
- Storing: Store the bread wrapped in the refrigerator. You can even store the bread in a container or box in the refrigerator. This chocolate zucchini bread also freezes well. It stays good for 10 to 12 days in the fridge and for a couple of months in the freezer.
Ingredient swaps
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or pastry flour or whole wheat pastry flour instead of whole wheat flour.
- Zucchini: You can use both green zucchini as well as yellow zucchini. But do make sure that the zucchini is not bitter. So taste the zucchini before grating it.
- Nuts: Pecans, almonds, pistachios, cashews can be replaced with walnuts. You can even add dry fruits like raisins, dried berries and even chocolate chips.
- Ground spices: You can skip any of the ground spices if you do not have them. But do not skip vanilla.
- Pumpkin spice: Use 1 to 1.5 teaspoon pumpkin spice instead of adding ground spices separately.
- Raw sugar: Maple syrup, coconut sugar, palm sugar, white sugar or jaggery can be used in place of raw sugar.
